Random Thoughts: Welcome to the New Year
The death of Tim Burkholder brings back many memories of him as a little boy. He and my son Bud, C.R. Moulton, Les Powell, Billy Carpenter, and Monty Frazier called themselves "The Rangers." I think they played together almost every day.
In the summer time they would spend most of their day on Dogfish Island, a small piece of land in the river just at the north edge of town. They felt it was their kingdom. Some of their older sisters spied on them, reporting that they were swimming in their birthday suits. I don't know what was the matter with us Mothers, I guess we thought there was safety in numbers.
As they grew older, they became more daring and, of course, we Mothers were kept in the dark as to their secret activities. I have recently learned of one adventure that I'm glad I didn't know about.
We were having one of our big floods and Bud and Tim decided to squeeze into a kayak and ride the river. As they started south, the river got more violent and the water whirling in every direction. The boys realized it was getting dangerous so as they swept under a bridge, Bud grabbed a cross bar and Tim grabbed Bud's belt. I don't know how they did it, but they managed to get to the riverbank. I understand that some of their friends were following along the river in a car and when that kayak came shooting from under the bridge empty, they were pretty scared.
I suppose there are other stories I haven't heard — keep them secret. I'm too old to go through all that trauma stuff again.
— NORMA HANNAFORD
